Nothofagus dombeyi, or coihue, is a large tree that grows in the Andes. In the late 90s, northern Patagonia was hit with a pretty severe drought that killed many of these trees. So what was the difference between the trees that kicked it and the trees that are still going strong?

Some trees constantly live with higher water stress than others. This is usually due to where they’re growing. If a tree is on a particularly steep patch of ground, the water runs off before it can suck it up. If a tree is growing in shallow soil or on a very sunny slope, it’s going to be a lot thirstier than your average tree in the forest.

The authors of this study thought that these trees might be the ones to be hit hardest during the drought since they were already stressed. They also considered the possibility that the trees growing in more water stressed areas are different and better able to cope with drought. The trees used to the good life might have invested more in their tops than their roots, which could be bad news in a drought. A tree with a smaller root system might not be able to suck up enough water to support all its branches in a very dry year.

The authors also wondered if there were a way to look at a tree and use where and how its growing to predict whether or not it will survive a drought.

So, what did they find?

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